The Deserted Library Mystery

The Boxcar Children #21

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

The Aldens are helping save an old library that’s about to be torn down. If they fix it up, it might be given landmark status! But after all their hard work, it’s very clear someone is trying to destroy the library. But who?

Genres: Mystery, Childrens, Fiction, Middle Grade, Juvenile, Chapter Books, Young Adult

Audio CD

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Gertrude Chandler Warner was born in Putnam, Connecticut, on April 16, 1890, to Edgar and Jane Warner. Her family included a sister, Frances, and a brother, John. From the age of five, she dreamed of becoming an author. She wrote stories for her Grandfather Carpenter, and each Christmas she gave him one of these stories as a gift. Today, Ms. Warner is best remembered as the author of THE BOXCAR CHILDREN MYSTERIES.

As a child, Gertrude enjoyed many of the things that girls enjoy today. She loved furnishing a dollhouse with handmade furniture and she liked to read. Her favorite book was ALICE IN WONDERLAND. Often on Sundays after church, Gertrude enjoyed trips to visit her grandparents' farm. Along the way, she and Frances would stop to pick the wildflowers they both loved. Gertrude's favorite flower was the violet.

Her family was a very musical one. They were able to have a family orchestra, and Gertrude enjoyed playing the cello. Her father had brought her one from New York ---a cello, a bow, a case and an instruction book. All together, he paid $14. Later, as an adult, she began playing the pipe organ and sometimes substituted for the church organist.

Due to ill health, Ms. Warner never finished high school. She left in the middle of her second year and studied with a tutor. Then, in 1918, when teachers were called to serve in World War I, the school board asked her to teach first grade. She had forty children in the morning and forty more in the afternoon. Ms. Warner wrote, "I was asked or begged to take this job because I taught Sunday School. But believe me, day school is nothing like Sunday School, and I sure learned by doing --- I taught in that same room for 32 years, retiring at 60 to have more time to write." Eventually, Ms. Warner attended Yale, where she took several teacher training courses.

Once when she was sick and had to stay home from teaching, she thought up the story about the Boxcar Children. It was inspired by her childhood dreams. As a child, she had spent hours watching the trains go by near her family's home. Sometimes she could look through the window of a caboose and see a small stove, a little table, cracked cups with no saucers, and a tin coffee pot boiling away on the stove. The sight had fascinated her and made her dream about how much fun it would be to live and keep house in a boxcar or caboose. She read the story to her classes and rewrote it many times so the words were easy to understand. Some of her pupils spoke other languages at home and were just learning English. THE BOXCAR CHILDREN gave them a fun story that was easy to read.

Ms. Warner once wrote for her fans, "Perhaps you know that the original BOXCAR CHILDREN. . . raised a storm of protest from librarians who thought the children were having too good a time without any parental control! That is exactly why children like it! Most of my own childhood exploits, such as living in a freight car, received very little cooperation from my parents."

Though the story of THE BOXCAR CHILDREN went through some changes after it was first written, the version that we are familiar with today was originally published in 1942 by Scott Foresman. Today, Albert Whitman & Company publishes this first classic story as well as the next eighteen Alden children adventures that were written by Ms. Warner.

Gertrude Chandler Warner died in 1979 at the age of 89 after a full life as a teacher, author, and volunteer for the American Red Cross and other charitable organizations. After her death, Albert Whitman & Company continued to receive mail from children across the country asking for more adventures about Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny Alden. In 1991, Albert Whitman added to THE BOXCAR CHILDREN MYSTERIES so that today's children can enjoy many more adventures about this independent and caring group of children.

Books about Gertrude: https://www.goodreads.com/characters/...

Reviews

[Cameron Chaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really brings me back! I read/listen to these books whenever I need something to take my mind off the darkness of life. This did the trick! It isn't a "great book", but it is entertaining, charming, and cozy. That's all I want.

[hedgehog · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't remember this one at all. We're into ghostwriter territory by now, though, so that turns out for the best. I'm missing #20 but they must have done the time reversal right away once they decided to milk money from the stone here.

The Deserted Library Mystery is bizarrely violent and these kids take their New England Independence thing a little TOO far! The thief guy straight up BREAKS INTO the Aldens' cottage! He rips apart a chair in his fury! That's some psychopath behavior! They have a runaway child with them! OK, I can understand why they don't tell an actual adult about Miguel, but the rest? That guy is clearly a violent threat! He tries to put a bag over Jessie's head and kidnap her?!?! She gets away via a well-placed kick to his balls, I mean, his shins in the book, but let's be real, she's (eternally) 12. There's no way she could have overpowered a full-grown man. She definitely dropped him by kicking him in the nuts. Go, girl.

I'm a little surprised she didn't, like, hit him with a solid diamond bracelet or all the zeroes in Grandfather Alden's bank account.

[Karly · Rating 5 out of 5]

We love a library book sale find. These were some of my favorite books as a kid, but I’d never read this one. The perfect quick, cozy, and nostalgic read for spooky season!

[Josiah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read for me and I really enjoyed reading this book! It was packed with the excitement of who the stranger would be. This could be a little scary for younger readers who get scared easy, but I think that the majority of readers would enjoy this book!

[Teddy Pridemore · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was cool because there was a Civil War sword from Gettysburg.

[Isla · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little bit scary!:-(

[Patrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

A poor imitation of the original series.

The B story is a runaway boy who has to wait around for the A story to resolve before finding out if his father is dead or alive. When they find out he is, rather than using their largesse to find some natural and graceful way of helping the boy and his father, Grandfather Alden just buys him a large new fishing boat. That is simply not how the Alden family practices charity - nor how people should want or expect to receive it.

The A story involves a menacing stranger looking for a sword who at one point grabs Jessie and puts a bag over her head. It is not appropriate for the at times very young audience of these stories or the tone or level of menace/threat/drama of the originals. And somehow no one thinks to tell the police or grandfather until the end, which is a lapse in the children’s judgement compared to their norm.

The style of the writing is too different, too.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

You'd never get a mystery like this written today, I think - the kids are sent away to do up a library, and they live by themselves for a week in an empty house while they do it. The "about the author" section at the back of the book notes that this series was popular with kids because of the frequent lack of adult supervision, and this book's living up to that. I don't think my parents would ever have allowed this, back when I was a kid, but me and my sister and our friends would take our bikes out for the day and spend it at the river, swimming, when we were about the same age as Jessie and Henry, so it's not entirely foreign. It's nice to read about, though, and indicative of more trusting times, I think.

Anyway, the kids are doing up a rundown library in order to save it, which in practice means they spend the week dusting and shelving books, which is not greatly exciting, but the library has a sword passed down from the time of the civil war, and a local thief is after it. They also make friends with a young boy whose father has recently been lost at sea. It's obvious a happy ending is coming to that particular storyline, and it does, but mostly the whole thing is a sort of extended camping trip with books: pleasant, undemanding fun.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listened to this on audio since I had never read any from this series-- might as well try the library one! I listened to it on audio, with sound effects like old-time radio theater, which I'm sure kids would enjoy. By this point in the series, the children are no longer living in a box car, they are happily situated with their grandfather, although he does allow them to go stay at a friends' empty house all alone. Classic, old-school mystery, free of conflict that directly involves any of the main characters. The children are mature past their years and work like a troupe of small adults. Definitely got the sense that a grandmother wrote this.

[JoLynn Ensz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nostalgia

I LOVED he boxcar children books as a kid. So I decided to read one as an adult for fun. Honestly it was very stereotypical and repetitive. I can see how I liked it as a 9 year old... but the plot is poor and the thought of four kids between 6&14 being allowed to go live somewhere by themselves for a week much less act like responsible adults in the manner they did AND solve a mystery and catch the robber is quite laughable. I think I’ll leave the boxcar children books where they are... in my childhood.

[Cynthia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know that it's hard to top Gertrude Chandler Warner's writing. However, I really hated the direction this ghostwriter went with The Boxcar Children series. It was like they were writing for Scooby Doo and the Gang instead of the Alden family. For example, at the end of the book they even said something along the lines of "I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you kids.". I had to hold back my laughter. Yikes.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read. I hadn't visited the Boxcar Children in years. It is good to know that they still go out on their own and manage well. This would make a good first chapter book, I think. The mystery would attract reluctant readers. The independence of the children I think will always be something kids enjoy!

[Adam Carman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A reread for pleasure. Like most of the newer Boxcar Children it tends to be a bit on the fluff side, the older installments still had a sense of danger and urgency. In this story, the Boxcar Children clean up an old library while racing against a greedy prowler to find and restore a sword from the Civil War.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mysteries are certainly twinged with a bit more danger, and you can tell that other authors are penning the stories. They still make for excellent adventures and problem solving. These books keep to the classic focus of the original 19 stories and have heart and family values and helping others as a forefront in every story to come.

[Abby Stopka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am still confused on how in book 19 or so Henry was in college and all the sudden we are back to them not being in college and younger than they were This was definitely a darker book than normal for the boxcar children. But it was a good read all in all.

[Carrie Horning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hunter and I listened to this book while we were folding laundry. I just love the boxcar children and enjoyed listening to their adventures. They are so wholesome and such good characters. We finished this one in one day!

[Cherish Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4☆ Would recommend)
I loved these books as a kid & I'm really enjoying reading through the series again. I liked the mystery & the suspense. I also liked how generous Grandfather is; he's such a great character.

[KP · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was always my favorite Boxcar Children story. Sometimes, all these years later, I reread it in an evening to relive some of the childhood nostalgia.

[Jasmine Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This really took me back to the third grade. I enjoy how the kids really take care of each other, and their Grandfather must be rich to buy someone a fishing boat but it was sweet.

[Katy Lovejoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my old favorites that is still as good as I remember

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reading this at night and it actually scared me that's how well it was written

[Gabriel Collier · Rating 5 out of 5]

The library is very cool!

[aem · Rating 3 out of 5]

This boxcar children mystery was quite scary!!!

[Gladwin]

First Boxcar Children book I ever read!

[Charles Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

82%

Finally a violent encounter!

They're like mystery inc. I love it

[Kim Hampton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this series.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reread a childhood favorite. I love how encouraging it is reading about these adventurous kids all these years later. 

[Isabel Sasine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked how there was a thrift but they didn't find out who it was until the end!

[Breana Pope · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a good boxcar children book. I enjoyed it.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An okay book. My five year old enjoyed the mystery of it.